India is a predominantly an agrarian country, about 70 percent of its rural working force earns its livelihood directly from agricultural resources. It is misfortune that the land resource is gradually becoming scarce due to rapidly increasing growth of population. The problem is further compounded because of miss-utilization of land resulting in severe degradation. It is thus imperative that all available land be put to optimum use, the hitherto degraded land be properly utilized and the cultivable wastelands reclaimed. In order to reclaim the cultivable wastelands and put to profitable use, it is essential that such degraded lands be accurately identified at micro-level with a view to establish their ownerships for sustainable agricultural development.
In the present study, an attempt has been made to assess the nature and types of existing cultivable wastelands, highlight the issues and problems associated with them and to provide a fruitful discussion and suggest reclamation measures for their sustainable management and conservation. For providing a detailed insight of cultivable wastelands, district Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, has been chosen as a case study. In order to fulfill the above objectives relevant data have been procured from revenue office of Rae Bareli district at block level and primary data on such aspects is generated by conducting interaction and interviews with the local people in various villages of the study area. Out of the total reporting area of 4,54,370 hectares, about 1,30,020 hectares (28.62 percent) has been recorded as cultivable wastelands, which is almost one third of the total area. Based on physical and chemical features, cultivable wastelands of the district can be classified into eight categories namely fallow lands, garden and groves, pasture lands, land affected by salinity/alkalinity, surface waterlogged area, ravinous land, sand accumulated land and brick kilns field. The reclamation of cultivable wastelands will have to be taken up based on local soil and terrain characteristics, for which detailed field survey is needed. There is an urgent need to provide a package of the reclamation technology, finance and informative education, time to time for systematic cultivation, adequate irrigation, construction of check dams, ponds and drain for surface water logged area etc.